City Council - Regular Meeting

If everybody can make their way to the dais and or your seats.

All right. With everyone's cooperation, I'm gonna go ahead and call to order our regular meeting of the Vallejo City Council at 7.03 p.m. And to begin, I'll go ahead and ask our city clerk

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. THAT IS GOING TO BRING US TO ITEM THREE, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. IF EVERYONE WOULD PLEASE STAND AND JOIN US FOR THE PLEDGE. all right thank you all that brings us to item four report out of closed session and the council did meet in closed session immediately following this meeting i will turn it over to our city attorney to report on our first set of closed session items and i'll encourage all of us at the dais to take our items so they are not blocking us while we do that

THEN OUR VICE MAYOR WILL PROVIDE ONE OTHER UPDATE.

Thank you, Mayor. And for item 3A, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D2, four cases. The counsel received a report from outside counsel, and we provided direction to outside counsel. And that is the end of the report.

all right thank you that is going to bring us to item five presentations and commendations and we do have one this evening we are going to be give me one second so i can see everything We do have one presentation this evening, which is our proclamation recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place between September 15th and October 15th, 2026 and every year. And this year we are presenting it a bit early because we have our Fiestas Patrias event this Friday during art walk and some other events that will be happening between now and our next council meeting. and we wanted to particula

I just want to make sure this is working. Okay, we're good? All right, great. Thank you, Mayor. So this proclamation is recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins on September 15th and goes through October 15th of 2026. Whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed September 15 to October 15, celebrating Hispanic and Latin American people, cultures, achievements, and the contributions of the more than 37,000 Hispanic and Latin people, which is 30% of Vallejo's population, who help make our city stronger every day. And whereas the observance began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week

I am proud to be part of. I'm sorry. We really want to be able to hear you. I didn't want to interrupt, but I'm going to ask folks to move away from the sliding doors so that they close because the noise is coming into here. So we're just going to wait for those doors to close and thank you to our, why aren't they closing? Oh, my goodness. So our folks back there, thank you for trying to help kind of have folks keep it down out there. I'm sorry that I had to interrupt you. You all are doing an amazing job, and we wanted to make sure we hear everything you have to say. Okay.

All right, we'll have Maestria Jairo come up and then maybe we'll all do a picture together.

Thank you all so much. So we'll come in front here and we'll take a picture together.

All right, and while we transition, I'll again just express my gratitude to all of our community groups that just make Vallejo so special as a place, and in particular our representatives that received our proclamation this evening. Thank you all so much. so we had a little bit of i know that's that's actually where i'm headed we had a little we had a little bit of uh noise issue during that last presentation so i'm just gonna remind this is a difficult room and for those of you that are in the audience the the noise carries spectacularly even a whisper, it really carries. Then that back door,

Thank you, Mayor. And the first five speakers are, in this order, Michael Cooper, Clarence Isidore, Melissa Gonzalez, Manpreet Singh, and Ciela Onsina.

You can actually raise up the podium if you want. On the lower right down there, there's a little toggle. There it is.

Thank you so much. And I want, before we call the next speaker, I wanna thank our confunction members again for joining us, for all you've given to Vallejo for being ambassadors, and for the gifts that you left us. We've already had a couple conversations with city staff. To our council members, we're gonna make sure that we adhere to the gift limits, and anything over it is gonna go to a worthy, worthy cause. So thank you, thank you so much again.

Next speaker is Melissa Gonzalez. Yeah, Anne Bergman is the next one after the sixth person.

And you can raise the podium lower right. Yeah. Okay. That way everybody can hear you. Can you hear me?

We have time for one more speaker. The next speaker on the list is Anna Bergman.

We have time for one more speaker. The next speaker is River Payne.

And this will most likely be our final speaker. Thank you again for everyone who signed up. We'll make sure to get you an opportunity later in the meeting.

all right with that we'll close our first community forum and those that didn't have a chance to speak will have an opportunity both in person and online later in the meeting when we get to our second community forum that's now going to bring us to items seven and eight which are our consent calendar we'll go ahead and open up public comment on our consent calendar items for any members of the public who wish to comment on items a through t on our consent calendar And I am going to make a adjustment to the order on our agenda in order to accommodate some of our honorees, representatives that a

YES, WE DO, MAYOR. AND I THINK THIS FIRST ONE MAY BE AN ACCIDENTAL ONE. I HAVE RIVER PAIN ON CONSENT CALENDAR.

DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR CONSENT? SO FOR OUR CONSENT SPEAKERS, IF YOU CAN JUST SHARE WHAT ITEM YOU'RE SPEAKING ON. DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO SPEAK ON ON CONSENT?

Oh, so then come on up and identify which specific item that is.

Yeah, just let us know the letter of the item so we can find it.

Let us know the letter of the item so we know where to find it.

Next speaker is Crystal G. I have Lena next.

Yeah, have her come on up. Sure. And you can lower, yep, you got it.

All right, I know I did pull up the consent item S, which is the HUD required consolidated annual performance and evaluation report or CAPER. I know we have many people here that wanna speak on housing. For this particular item, we will have to keep it focused on that report on the CAPER and more general comments about the department and Section 8 vouchers will have saved for the community forum. So we'll go ahead and call our next speakers.

And Christelle, did you want Lily to speak ahead of you? Okay, Lily? Yes.

SO I'M JUST GOING TO REMIND YOU, WE DO HAVE TO KEEP, FOR THIS ITEM, WE HAVE TO KEEP THE COMMENTS ON SPECIFICALLY THE CAPER REPORT.

I DON'T THINK THAT FALLS. I WOULD ASK FOR GUIDANCE FROM OUR STAFF. ASK FOR GUIDANCE. SOMEBODY HELP. I think we're going to have to save the comment for the second community forum. I THINK, WELL, IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK MORE BROADLY ON THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT, WE'LL HAVE TO CALL YOU BACK FOR THE SECOND COMMUNITY FORUM. BECAUSE THIS ITEM IS SPECIFICALLY FOR A REPORT TO HUD.

BUT THAT'S NOT THIS ITEM. SO WE'LL HAVE TO HAVE YOU DURING THE COMMUNITY FORUM. BECAUSE WE WERE PULLING UP THE ITEM AND VERIFYING WHAT WAS QUALIFIED UNDER THE ITEM. AND THE PREVIOUS SPEAKER WAS ALSO OFF TOPIC, BUT I DIDN'T CATCH IT IN TIME.

That doesn't fit this item. So we'll have you come back during the second community forum. And all of you know that.

The last speaker for consent item is Crystal G.

Thank you very much. All right. That's it in person for our consent calendar. Do we have anyone online that wishes to comment on the consent calendar? Let's go ahead and call them and if you can specify initially what item you're commenting on, that would be helpful.

And just make sure that you connect it to that keeper report.

Thank you very much. All right, those are our commenters on consent. Thank you again. So I'm gonna look for council members that wish to pull items from consent. I see Council Member Letijoux.

S, all right, I'm hearing item S, which is the caper that we were just speaking of.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to pull J and it's the other report that's on here. I think it's T. Yes.

All right, so item J will become 8.2, item T will become 8.3. Council Member Gordon.

Yes, I'd like to pull F and YOU DIDN'T SAY K, RIGHT? I LIKE TO PULL K. ALL RIGHT.

ITEM F WILL BECOME 8.4. ITEM K WILL BECOME 8.5. WE ARE GOING TO HEAR THESE ITEMS AFTER OUR ACTION ITEMS OUT OF RESPECT FOR OUR GUESTS THAT WE HAVE IN THE AUDIENCE. I'M NOT SEEING ANY OTHERS. WE ARE GOING TO NEED QUITE A MOTION. VICE MAYOR, ARE YOU READY TO MAKE THE MOTION FOR APPROVAL?

And can you confirm once again the action items that were going in which order?

Yeah, my intention for the action item is to take item C first, which is the Pearl Pinson honoring, followed by probably item D, which is the MacDray Way, and then going back to A. And then coming down to F. And then ending with B and then E.

Okay. Yeah, I got it, I got it. I got it. Are we ready to go?

Yes, Mayor. We approve the consent calendar with item, where is that? Eight, where is that?

ITEM 8J BECOMING 8.2. ITEM 8T BECOMING 8.3. ITEM 8F BEING 8.4. And then item 8K becoming 8.5 and revising the action calendar to item 9C becoming 9A, 9D becoming 9B, 9A becoming 9C, and 9B becoming 9D, and 9E staying as 9E.

ALL RIGHT, AND THANK YOU FOR THAT. WE UNDERSTAND, MEMBERS, IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT TO HEAR IN HERE, SO WE'RE ALL GOING TO TRY TO REMEMBER TO TALK INTO OUR MICS. I'LL KEEP REFERRING TO THE ACTION ITEMS BY THEIR ORIGINAL LETTERS, BUT WHAT THE VICE MAYOR JUST STATED WILL BE THE NEW ORDER, AND I THINK WE'RE READY TO VOTE. OKAY.

All right. Thank you all. And thank you everyone in our audience for your patience. We are going to save our pulled consent items for the end and move to our action calendar, beginning with item nine C, which I'll ask our city clerk to announce.

All right, thank you very much. Do we have a staff presentation on the item?

All right. Thank you very much. Before we see if there are questions from council, I want to offer an opportunity. We have some of Pearl's family members here. I want to invite up her sister, Rose. If you'd like to say any words, come on up.

Thank you so much, Rose. I can say personally how beautiful and inspiring your family is and how I think heartbroken and moved we are by what has happened to you, but also by the strength that you have shown. And we just thank you for being here and being willing to tell your story and are happy to be part of anything that we can do to help honor Pearl. SO BEFORE WE GET TO QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS, DO WE HAVE ANY OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC THAT WISH TO SPEAK ON THIS ITEM? ALL RIGHT. LET'S CALL THEM.

THE FIRST SPEAKER SIGNED UP IS ASKARI SAWANDE.

HOLD ON ONE SECOND, MS. ASKARI. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE A CONNECTION.

NEXT SPEAKER TO SIGN UP IS BRIDGET DOROTHY.

THOSE ARE ALL THE IN-PERSON SPEAKERS, MAYOR?

ALL RIGHT. WE'LL CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENT. AND I SEE COUNCILMEMBER GORDON WILL FOLLOW WITH ANY OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS THAT WANT TO SAY WORDS OR ASK QUESTIONS ON THIS ITEM.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. THANK YOU SO MUCH THROUGH THE MAYOR. MY NAME IS HELEN MARIA, AS YOU MOST KNOW. BUT ONE TIME I WAS A MOM. who have a student who went to the same school that Pearl did. At that time, I served on the school site council. We were about to have a meeting and we had got alarmed of the situation that happened. All the students were crying. My son Christopher, he was devastated. He knew Pearl for a while. Unlike me, I did not. However, I used to see her face. I am wearing green in honor of her. I'M ALSO WEARING PEARLS AND HONORING HER. WHENEVER WE GO UNDER THE BRIDGE, WE ALWAY

First, I'd like to say to Pearl's family, I know this has been a long journey, and it continues to be a very difficult journey, and I do pass that bridge every single day. And one of the things that I want in this process, because it's very important, and someone came to the podium and said it, and that was Miss Ascari. regarding all families. And so what I want to see also in this request is that there is a proper policy that provides a proper framework to handle a request such as yours, because we have many other families in our community who have tragedies and who have potentially the same

YEAH, THANK YOU. I'll quickly echo that. I think I said what I wanted to say before, which is just the admiration of beauty and strength in your family. And I don't think any of us can possibly imagine what you've gone through the past 10 years and we're just, Grateful for for what you're bringing to us and and that we can be part of of honoring pearl one thing that that did Make things difficult for both myself and Eric in our office was that this did get routed through the ceremonial documents and street renaming policy and that was not the appropriate path for it we made it work and And I a

Sorry about that, Mayor. So fully supportive, 1,000%, but I do want to see a response from either our city attorney or the city manager on the comment that was made by Council Member Letajew. I'M JUST ASKING FOR A RESPONSE FROM THE CITY MANAGER, CITY ATTORNEY ON THE POINT THAT WAS RAISED BY COUNCIL MEMBER.

IT DID GO THROUGH THE REFORM PROCESS. WE VOTED TO AGENDIZE IT AND IT WAS PUSHED THROUGH THE CEREMONIAL STREET RENAMING PROCESS. that that's really the item and I don't know if we need a new policy so much as just the ability to see a situation differently and not try to fit a square peg in a round hole.

All right, thank you. Council Member Gordon, quickly, if you have another comment.

Yes, I just want us to remember, yeah, thank you so much for clarifying that. City Manager Black, we did go through the process and already been approved. It was requested at the mic through Pearl, then I asked to put it on the agenda for a scope and it did. But I want to remind us that we have ceremony plats and memorial plats throughout the city of Vallejo, one being the Port of Chicago. WE HAVE VARIOUS ON THEIR ISLAND RECOGNIZING AND WE ALSO HAVE RIGHT HERE JUST OUTSIDE OUR DOOR TO RECOGNIZE INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIFE, AND SO I'M NOT SURE ABOUT WHY IT WENT THROUGH THE NAM

ALL RIGHT, WITH THAT, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THAT. I THINK THAT'S AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION, AND THE ITEM BEFORE US IS ABOUT PEARLS, SO I THINK WE'RE READY FOR THE MOTION ON THAT ITEM.

Yes, Mayor. I move that we adopt a resolution approving the installation of a commemorative plaques in honor of Pearl Pinson, one, at the corner of Reese Avenue and Home Acres Avenue, and two, along Lewis Avenue adjacent to the Interstate 780 freeway pedestrian bridge, and approving a letter of condolence in her honor.

All right, thank you so much. Thank you again, Rose and your family and everyone that came out and everyone that spoke. With that, we're going to move to our next action item, which as we are going out of order is going to be item 9D. I'll ask our clerk to announce this item.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. DO WE HAVE ANYTHING FROM STAFF ON THIS ITEM? AND IF SO, WE'LL GO AHEAD WITH IT.

All right. Well, I know we have a huge turnout from the Country Club Crest and broader North Loyola community today. Thank you all so much for joining us, for your advocacy, for putting this forward. When the request first came through, the vice mayor who represents that district and I both gave it the stamp to move forward. We're glad it's finally before the whole council. And my understanding is that we've got quite a few people signed up for public comment.

12 people. So we're going to have everybody up. If we can just keep time in mind, and we'll get everybody up. And please, this is an incredible moment, I know, for the community. So we're excited to hear from the folks that are here. Let's go ahead and call our public commenters.

Yes, our first three speakers in this order are Selena Perez, Miami the Most, and Tom Pangilinan.

Yeah, and my understanding is we keep getting feedback that the mics are just not picking up sound. So when you do come up to the podium, if you can raise it using that toggle on the lower right, just raise it to the right height and just speak really closely into it.

Next speaker is Tom Pangolinan, and then followed by the next three speakers of Jordan Jade, Mike Rosenthal, and then Mack Maul.

And you can lower it on the lower right. There's a little toggle to lower it. Yep, there you go.

Next speaker is Mack Maul, and followed by the next three speakers of Cassandra James, Letitia W., and Boobie S.

Next speaker. Thank you. Next speaker is Boobie S., followed by the last three speakers signed up, Frankie A., Sherrod Hicks, and Chris Kelly.

Thank you. Next to last speaker signed up is Sherrod Hicks.

All right. Those are all of our speakers in person. Do we have anyone online wishing to speak on the item?

We're going to take our first online speaker, and then we have one more in-person speaker. So, sir, if you would act well, actually, let's go ahead and take our one more in-person speaker. If you could introduce yourself, and then we'll take our online speakers.

Thank you. All right, let's call our online speakers.

All right. So I'll say two things really quickly before we'll move to comments from council, and then we'll take our vote. I thought a little bit. We talked to some people about this leading up to it, but had thought a little bit before today about the significance of this, because it is hugely significant for Vallejo. But I think... I don't think we need to explain that because I think the people that showed up, the words that were shared, the comments that were shared, I think that pretty much just embodies how significant this is. And somebody said Mac Dre was Vallejo or Mac Dre is Vallejo.

Good evening, everyone. I want you to know the first time, first of all, I want to say welcome to Vallejo. I heard you all back there with the motorcycles. I knew that this was a special moment, and I'm so happy to look out to you all. I didn't meet Matt Dre here in Vallejo. I met him in Sacramento. Those know him best. That's right. So he did not just only, as it was stated before, his voice went everywhere. So when I met him in 1989 and 1990, it was 1998 and 1999, I was a coach for a nonprofit called Crossover Basketball. And we had the honors to have him come out and support us in Sacrament

THANK YOU, MAYOR. AND AS THE PROUD REPRESENTATIVE OF DISTRICT TWO THAT COVERS THE RANCHO AREA, COLLEGE PARK, AND ESPECIALLY THE COUNTRY CLUB CREST, YOU CAN HEAR THE PASSION AND THE LOVE COMING OUT OF HERE FROM EVERYBODY THAT LIVES IN OUR DISTRICT. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, WHEN I MENTION, I'M FROM NORTH VALLEJO, AND I REPRESENT THE RANCHO, THE COLLEGE PARK AND COUNTRY CLUB CREST, SOME PEOPLE GIVE ME THAT NEGATIVE CONNOTATION OF WHAT THAT REPRESENTS. But as you can see from the people in here, the Crest, Rancho, and all of District 2, there is more good there than there is bad going on over there. And

All right, my friends. I'm actually going to take a picture of the audience because I feel like everybody needs to be able to see what we see. Okay, I didn't realize this was going to be such a thing. All right. All right, everybody ready? One, two, three. Oh, that's really good. Everybody got it? All right.

We're all right. We're good. We got it. We are ready for a motion on the item.

We need to actually state the motion, and then we have to vote. I move we adopt a resolution approving an honorary street sign designation for the entirety of Taper Avenue from Fairgrounds Drive to Taper Court to be designated Mac Dre Way and approve a certificate of recognition for the same. All right, we're ready to vote.

Can we take a photo? Hey, y'all wanna come up here and take a photo? Let's take a photo.

All right, one minute. Everybody can make their way back. All right. Are we ready?

All right, I'm gonna go ahead and call us back to order so we can get back to our agenda. And we are going back to action item A. I'll just ask our audience again to just remember how the noise carries. Thank you so much. I'll ask our clerk to announce item 9A.

All right. So we'll open up public comment on this item and I'll turn it over to our chief and sheriff for the presentation.

All right, thank you very much. Why don't we go ahead and take public comment on this item and then we'll get questions from council. Do we have anyone in person? All right, do we have any commenters online?

All right. Let's go ahead and call them.

ALL RIGHT. WITH THAT, WE'LL MOVE TO QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM CITY COUNCIL. COUNCIL MEMBER MATTIAS.

Thank you, Mayor. So I want to touch on a few quick points. Number one, recruitment. So 87 sworn and I think you identified, Chief Todd, that there's another three, possibly four in the pipeline. Can you speak to what work is underway? Where do you forecast the number to be on December 31st? And what does that partnership with the Sheriff's Office look like as it's drawing to a close? So I want to just sort of present a picture of what Vallejo should expect as we head into the new year, because I've gotten some questions about that.

And then next I have a, it's going to be a question followed by a comment. So for this one, can I ask Assistant City Manager Conley to come up to the podium, please? So I have a question. You worked in tandem with City Manager Black in developing our budget. SO THIS IS A SPOILER FOR THE ITEM THAT I PULLED OFF CONSENT. SO CAN YOU SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE POSITION ELIMINATION THAT WAS RECOMMENDED BY CITY STAFF. JUST PRESENT A PICTURE AS TO WHY THAT WAS DONE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. AND WHAT IF ANY SAVINGS Is that generating, is it not generating any savings? Just want to go back in

consider increasing funding to provide for more officers and we would just try to figure that out with the budget process and is it fair to say two quick follow-ups is it fair to say that for some period of time those positions were budgeted for but were not filled because of our staffing general staffing challenges

Okay. What was happening, and some of my colleagues, my senior colleagues can attest to this, was that money, 60 to 70 positions, whatever the number was, was going to the police department, but the positions weren't filled, so the dollars were kind of being spread around as they needed to be spread around. Is that a fair statement?

So whoever was in Mr. Black's seat, there was a certain amount of savings that were being generated and they were being used to plug holes wherever those holes were. Is that a fair? Correct.

So the reason why I'm asking these specific questions is because item T, and I've also seen it on our printed media, and I've also seen it in recordings recently, where there is this narrative going around that we, the Vallejo City Council, was eliminating police officer positions. Not true. Not true. We were... That money was always there. I don't remember the last time we had 131 officers. I wish we did. And everybody on here said that if we had that problem, that's a great problem to have. We will sign off expeditiously. But what was happening instead was what I called at the time, and you

Thank you. Thank you both for the report. And as it relates to the cadence that you're requesting, ON SEPTEMBER 1, I SENT AN E-MAIL TO YOU, TO MY COLLEAGUE AND TO THE MAYOR, PARTICULARLY TO MY COLLEAGUE ON THE SAFETY COMMITTEE AND TO THE MAYOR WHO IS ALSO ON THE DOJ SUBCOMMITTEE. YOU'RE ASKING FOR A QUARTERLY CADENCE. AND ONE OF THE QUESTIONS I HAVE, FIRST OF ALL, IS IN THAT QUARTERLY CADENCE, Where does the DOJ subcommittee lie in this work? Because just like I'm on the safety committee, we have opted to have, we started out with having a meeting once a month because that's where the work rea

SO THE SUBCOMMITTEE IS HERE. AND MY QUESTION AGAIN IS HOW WILL THE SUBCOMMITTEE OR WHAT HAVE YOU ALL AGREED AS A SUBCOMMITTEE TO INTERACT IN THIS TOWN HALL MEETING? AND WHERE IT IS REALLY A WORKING MEETING, ARE YOU HAVING WORKING MEETINGS SIMILARLY TO WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING IN THE PUBLIC SAFETY? AND WE HAVE SKILLED BACK. WE HAVE AGREED TO MEET EVERY OTHER MONTH NOW FOR THE SAFETY COMMITTEE TO GIVE BACK SOME TIME TO YOUR STAFF. I AM INTERESTED IN KNOWING HOW THE SUBCOMMITTEE FOR DOJ CAN INTERACT WHERE IT'S VALUABLE FOR MY COLLEAGUES TO BE A PART OF THAT PROCESS.

All right, I'll hold my, well, give us a second.

And then I just have one last question before you chime in, whoever's gonna chime in. And I really would like, I touched really quickly and not very clear, is, YOU KNOW, AS IT RELATES TO THE REPORTING, IT'S REALLY HOW CAN THE REPORTING, WHICHEVER FORMAT WE END UP AGREEING TO GO TO WHERE THE REPORTING IS MUCH MORE ROBUST THAN IT IS TODAY. BECAUSE AT THIS POINT WE'RE GETTING WHAT PERCENT ARE WE DONE and where it is in the different buckets that we have. And so it's really how can that reporting be more meaningful and robust, whether it's we continue this every 60 days or we end up with another f

All right. I'm going to save my comments for the end. So I'll go to the Vice Mayor and then Council Member Bergenzer.

Thank you Mayor and thank you for the report. First quick question I had is the one concern I have from the data that we've been getting over this period of time of getting these updates are hearing the deaths that are, vehicular deaths that have been happening. And so I'd like to see if we can get a deeper dive into whether that's through the VPD or traffic safety or traffic engineers of the the reasons behind it, is there human error from the city side or is it a human error from the vehicular side or the pedestrian side where some of these fatalities are happening and is there anything that

No, I understand that as more of an efficiency standpoint, but I think when we're going over that period of time, as opposed to the numbers and seeing some of these bar charts right here, I think a graph over that period of time or over a six-month period, I think that may be able to be a lot more graphically easily to read to see some of that incremental. UPDATES FROM THAT STANDPOINT. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT.

THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. I WANT TO JUST QUICKLY TALK ABOUT, JUST MAKE SURE THAT THERE'S CLARITY. WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT A TOWN HALL, THAT'S A SEPARATE MEETING FROM THIS COUNCIL MEETING UPDATE. IS THAT CORRECT, CHIEF?

OKAY. SO I THINK WHERE THE CONFUSION IS, AT LEAST WHEN WE MAYBE CORRECT ME, THE REST OF YOU, IF I'M INCORRECT, BUT DURING THE REFORMS MEETING, WE TALKED ABOUT FOR THIS PARTICULAR COUNCIL MEETING, IT WAS GOING TO BE ON A ROTATION BASIS OF DOING EITHER THIS STAFFING UPDATE OR DOING A REFORMS UPDATE, BUT IT WASN'T Is that how you remember it, Mayor? Yeah. I don't remember talking about doing a quarterly, which I'm not against. I'm just saying that that was my understanding as we were going to do a rotation during this meeting of having it be updates on staffing, and then the next one would be upd

Yeah, so. That comes down to the discussion of whether we want something to come regularly to the council or whether we want to hope that we all can attend that quarterly meeting and watch it on video and not be able to participate. I think it's really the question. And I, you know, I kind of feel with what Council Member Lettege was saying that there is concern about being a passive participant in listening to the updates for the safety committee as well as the reforms committee and not being able to actually comment or be a participant in that meeting. So I think that's something we need to

I'm going to go over to Councilmember Gordon.

Good evening. Thank you so much for this report. We say that because we don't say it lightly, because like you just said, your time is very stretched. But however, I am 100 percent in transparency. I know it may be a lot, but believe it or not, I think the reasons why we are HAVING POSITIVE COMMENTS LIKE YOU STATED AS WELL AS I'M RECEIVING, ESPECIALLY IN DISTRICT 6, IT'S BECAUSE NOT ONLY, NOT EVERYONE CAN COME TO ALL THE VARIOUS MEETINGS, YOU KNOW. SO YOU COMING TO THIS COUNCIL, POLICYHOLDERS, MAKERS, ARE, IS CRUCIAL. AND SO I'M NOT FOR eliminating these 60 days report because we get inundated

All right, I'm going to, because I'm seeing some second round lights, I'm going to make a few comments and a suggestion and remind us that it is 1030 and we have three more action items and five pulled consent items. So we're going to have to start making some decisions about going faster. With respect to this particular item of the updates, I am very much not in favor of discontinuing the updates to city council. This is the place where the decisions get made. This is the only body of all of the bodies that are receiving updates from PDE that actually has the authority to set policy and make

THANK YOU, MAYOR. SO I'M JUST GOING TO MAKE A QUICK POINT ON THIS BECAUSE I DIDN'T COMMENT ON IT IN MY PREVIOUS ROUND. HERE'S THE ISSUE I'M HAVING IN FULL TRANSPARENCY, AND I THINK I'VE SAID THIS BEFORE IN OTHER CONTEXT. SO AGAIN, I APPRECIATE ALL THE UPDATES THAT THE CHIEF'S GIVING. WE HAVE A VEHICLE, AND THAT IS THE PUBLIC SAFETY SUBCOMMITTEE. TO MORE MEANINGFULLY DIVE INTO THESE UPDATES. THOSE MEETINGS ARE PUBLIC. THEY'RE TELEVISED. EVERYBODY KNOWS WHEN THEY HAPPEN. THEY CAN GO IN. THEY CAN SHARE THEIR CONCERNS. YADA, YADA, YADA. WHEN IT COMES TO THE AD HOC COMMITTEE, I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM Y

Sure. Like I said before, if you were listening, the Reforms Act action is very slow. There's not updates every week. There's not updates every month. I mean, it's very slow progress. So to have the chief come and present every... MONTH OR EVERY 60 DAYS ON THE REFORMS, I THINK WE WOULD, IT WOULDN'T BE FRUITFUL. SO I AGREE, I THINK THAT WE SHOULD LOOK AT, YOU KNOW, EVEN THE SUBCOMMITTEE COULD MEET BIMONTHLY, JUST LIKE THE SAFETY COMMITTEE, IF THAT HELPS YOU WITH YOUR WORKLOAD, BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND THE WORKLOAD IS HARD. I ALSO THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, WE COULD STILL, WE COULD DO INSTEAD OF EVERY 60

THANK YOU. I WAS JUST CLARIFYING TO MY COLLEAGUE'S CONCERN. I HAVE REPORT OUT FROM DOJ, NUMBER ONE. AND NUMBER TWO, CHIEF TODD DID. MAYBE YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW BECAUSE HE, WHEN HE DID THAT GRAPH, WE SAW THE EXACT SAME THING IN OUR DOJ. SO WE DID ASK CHIEF TODD TO REPORT OUT. AND SO HE DID A COMBO. YOU RECALL, I THINK A COUPLE MONTHS BACK, HE DID. AND I KNOW BECAUSE I GET THEM RIGHT HERE. SO MAYBE YOU DIDN'T REALIZE IT BECAUSE WE TALK ABOUT IT. GENERALLY WHEN HE DID IT FOR US. BUT OUR DOJ, IT'S MORE FROM WHAT I GATHER OF A SUPPORT. HOW CAN WE SUPPORT WHAT IS BEING ASKED OF THEM? AND IF YOU R

Yeah, so maybe you probably didn't know that, but that's what that was from. And then I did one back, but I think you were not here at that time. But I wanted you to know that. It's more of a support, how we can help them, help our chief and the team meet the goals of the DOJ. That's what that was for. And, yeah, I do agree. It would be nice to hear from the DOJ and what, you know, themselves here may be, TWICE A MONTH, TWICE A YEAR, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WHEN THEY COME HERE, IT DOES COST THE CITY, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN. SO I THINK THEY SHOULD ALSO REPORT OUT. AND THEY DID SAY THEY HAD A TOWN HALL

I'm going to go to Council Member Letijoux, and then I think we should consider continuing this item and taking the item where we have a consultant that's been waiting in the audience for three and a half hours. Council Member Letijoux.

So just to acknowledge Council Member Bergenzer's comment, I RECOGNIZE THAT REFORM TAKES A LONG TIME. THIS IS NOT LOST ON ME. AND JUST LIKE I SAID, MY ONLY REAL QUESTION IS HOW DOES THE DOJ SUBCOMMITTEE PARTICIPATE IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO TOWN HALLS? WHAT IS THE INTERCONNECTION IN ALL THE WORK? THAT'S WHY THE SUBCOMMITTEES ARE FORMED. AND THAT'S MY ONLY QUESTION AND THAT'S WHAT I POSTED IN MY EMAIL AND WANTED A RESPONSE TO. And so that's what I'm asking us as colleagues. However long it takes, I get it's going to take a long time. But I will also say we have had community come and say the report

I'M DONE. MY SUGGESTION, WE'RE ON THIRD TIME THROUGH. I'M TEMPTED TO PAUSE THIS ITEM AND START ITEM D, GO AHEAD, BUT WE'RE REALLY IN TROUBLE. WE'VE GOT THREE MORE ACTION ITEMS AND FIVE CONSENT ITEMS.

I PROMISE YOU, THIS IS QUICK. SO I'M NOT AS ELOQUENT AS COUNCILMEMBER LETTED YOU, BUT I JUST HAVE TO REPEAT THIS, RIGHT? SO I HEARD MAYBE YOU WEREN'T HEARING, MAYBE YOU WEREN'T LISTENING, MAYBE YOU WEREN'T HERE, MAYBE THIS OR THAT. I JUST HAVE TO SAY, IF WE WERE DOING A BANG-UP JOB REPORTING ON ALL THIS STUFF, YOU WOULD NOT SEE AS MUCH COMMUNITY COMING OUT FRUSTRATED asking us what are we doing around reform. That's really what I'm trying to get at here. So I'm only asking for feedback so that we can get to a place where we're doing a better job reporting out. Because again, if we were really

Well, you're saying what I've been saying for over a year on that committee, is that there's not been nearly enough direct report out to the public, and it starts with this council. I gave my word to everybody that we would have a follow-up conversation on reform at this council this fall, and I do still fully support making that happen. So my suggestion, I don't know that we have a motion on this item. I certainly don't support discontinuing the reports to council. I'm tempted, unless someone does have a motion they want to make, to just... PAUSE THIS DISCUSSION AND WE'LL BRING BACK A VERSION

I CAN SAY WHAT WE'VE GOT ON THE AGENDA AND VOTE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, OR IT SOUNDS LIKE WE WANT TO TABLE IT FOR...

LET'S TAKE A STRONGER VOTE FOR TABLING JUST SO WE GET IT ON THE RECORD.

YEAH, DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A VOTE RIGHT NOW? WE'LL MOVE TO TABLE THIS AND BRING IT BACK, BRING BACK A BROADER DISCUSSION AT A FUTURE MEETING. I made a motion and we're voting. Sorry, I might not have been close enough to the mic. The motion was to table this and bring it back at a future meeting for all the broader discussion.

So when are we going to bring it back? Because I want to say this with all due respect to the chief and his request. What is the timeline to bring it back? I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW, WITH ALL DUE RESPECT FOR THE CHIEF'S REQUEST, WHAT IS THE TIMELINE THAT WE'RE GOING TO BRING THIS BACK FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION? THAT NEEDS TO BE A PART OF THE MOTION AND COMMITMENT.

I MEAN, IT WOULD BE AT THE SOONEST MEETING WE CAN GET IT BACK, BUT I KNOW THE 22ND IS PACKED, SO IT MIGHT HAVE TO BE TWO MEETINGS. WE WOULD HAVE TO CHECK THE AGENDAS FOR THE UPCOMING MEETINGS.

If the issue is the lingering request, I mean, I'm happy to move that we continue the 60-day reports.

Yeah. I think we have to yeah, and then we just have to do another 60 day update basically Yeah, I think we're just move yeah We're voting to to continue this discussion in October and in the meantime we would be continuing the 60-day report outs I

All right, thank you. That's going to bring us to item F, 9F. I appreciate everyone's patience on this. I'll ask our city clerk to announce this item.

All right, thank you. We will open a public comment on this item and turn it over to our planning team for the presentation.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. WHY DON'T WE START BY TAKING A PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE ITEM?

YES, MAYOR. WE HAVE ONE SPEAKER SIGNED UP. CHRISTINE WATSON. CHRISTINE WATSON, ARE YOU STILL PRESENT?

IT DOESN'T APPEAR. WHY DON'T WE CHECK ONLINE?

Why don't we go ahead and see if council members have questions or comments. I'll check one more time for Ms. Watson specifically in case she has logged on online or comes back into the room. Do any council members have questions or comments? Council Member Matias.

Just one, and it's just a follow-up. Thank you for the presentation. It's just a follow-up to that last comment you made. So you're saying there's going to be anti-displacement policies. They're not localized to the downtown area. They're more broadly for the city. How does that tie into timelines we've shared with our housing advocates vis-a-vis the package that we're supposed to get this fall? What is the interplay there?

YES, THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. I'M WONDERING, I KNOW THAT THE PREVIOUS PLANS WERE WRITTEN LIKE 20 YEARS AGO, BUT THEY WERE VERY ROBUST, AND I KNOW THERE WAS A LOT OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN WRITING THOSE PLANS, AND SO I'M WONDERING IF THERE'S, FIRST OF ALL, IF THE CONSULTANTS HAVE READ THROUGH THOSE PLANS SO THAT WE'RE NOT I mean, I don't want to waste a lot of time. Is this really going to take three years when we already have a comprehensive plan when not much has happened on the waterfront in the last 20 years? So and I think a lot of the things that the community wanted are still thi

And will we have to wait three years for that to actually happen? Or will you be delivering some of that as we go along this process?

Thanks. You already kind of answered my question, so I'm going to jump in and then we'll go to the vice mayor. I was going to say something similar, which is really, you know, I think in Vallejo we have this tendency to make plans and update plans and never really get anything out of them. And I would hate to... I don't wanna not do the work. When I first saw this, I'm not gonna lie, I really had a reaction to the price tag. I appreciate that it's grant funded. We'll be expecting something quite robust for this amount of money, but I would hate to have to wait two to three years to start activ

And this grant was awarded three years ago. So it just took three years to get from the grant to this and then another three. So as long as it's all compatible and we can still move, I appreciate your response.

Let's aim for that. Thank you. All right. I'll go over to the vice mayor.

thank you for that and i know um council member matias is sitting in the back there having a conversation but i think this is um and he and i have had this conversation to where and i've had this with our planning commission of of this sounds like the ideal project for the planning commission and the economic development team to start collaborating and working with this being part of the community engagement part where we actually have um our our um council members I'm sorry, not council, but commissioners on both those commissions to be part of that community engagement to where they've been

All right, let's check one more time for public comment.

Yes, we do have a new speaker that signed up, Crystal G. And did our other speaker turn up online?

So we'll take Crystal and then we'll close public comments.

All right, we'll close public comment and I think we're ready for a motion on the item.

Sorry. I move we adopt a resolution one approving a consultant and professional services agreement with RC Design Collaborative, LLC, DBA, SiteLab, Urban Studio for the preparation of the downtown Vallejo specific plan and Vallejo waterfront specific plan for an amount not to exceed $2,009,400 Two, approving an environmental consultant agreement with Stantec Consulting Services Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $265,914 for related environmental review. And three, authorizing the city manager to execute the agreements.

All right, thank you all again, and thank you for staying with us into the evening. We have two more action items that will be quick. We can try to get through them. We also have five pulled consent items, three of which absolutely have to be adopted tonight. IF COUNCIL MEMBERS MATIAS AND MATULIK HAVE THEIR MEASURE P APPOINTMENTS, WE CAN JUST KNOCK THOSE OUT RIGHT NOW. SO WHY DON'T WE JUST TRY TO KNOCK OUT BOTH OF THESE ITEMS. SO LET'S GO AHEAD TO ACTION CALENDAR, ACTION ITEM 9B. I'LL ASK OUR CLERK TO ANNOUNCE 9B.

All right. We're going to open up public comment on the item. And I'm going to ask, we'll start with District 1. I will ask Council Member Ortiz, his nominee for the commission.

I think it goes without saying, outstanding interviews, outstanding applicants. I know my colleagues probably have an opportunity to review those interviews recently and just makes these decisions incredibly more difficult.

Sorry, we were just, there was just a comment that we should probably hear public comment before we announce the selections. My bad. But no, that was me. No, that was me. Is there anyone wanting to comment on this item?

All right, let's go ahead, Council Member Ortiz.

I want to encourage the applicants to continue to apply. I actually see a home for each one of you in one of our commissions fairly soon, hopefully. But my nomination will go, and with that, my nomination will go for Ms. Wang in District 1.

And unlike Council Member Matisse, mine was a lot easier to pick because I only had one applicant, so I will go ahead and nominate that one applicant.

All right, I will move that we adopt a resolution making appointments to the Measure P Overcut Committee with Ming Wang representing District 1 and Melton Geronimo representing District 2. We are ready to vote.

All right. Thank you all, and congratulations to our new MPOC appointees. Let's go ahead to action item 9E. I'll ask our clerk to announce this item.

All right, and this came at the request of council at the last meeting, so I think it's fairly straightforward. It's one line X'd out in the ordinance. City Attorney Nebb, did you have something to, did you have a presentation or something to share on the item?

That is it. And let's check for public comment. Anyone in person?

GO AHEAD. SO WITH THAT, WHAT MEASURES ARE WE TAKING ARE COMMITTED TO TAKE WHEN I KNOW ONE OF THE ISSUES I THINK HAS BEEN WITH THE SAB WHERE THERE WAS A HARD TIME BRINGING SOMEBODY IN. what kind of what are we committed to doing to really advertise and um get to a place where we say okay it's just not working because there's a purpose for districts there's a purpose for creating an equitable way for each district to be represented so what's our GENERAL EFFORT IN GETTING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE SAY, OKAY, IT'S REALLY NOT WORKING. I MEAN, BECAUSE WE ADVERTISED SEVERAL TIMES FOR THE SAB.

I BROUGHT THIS FORWARD BECAUSE THE SAB WAS DIFFICULT. MY INTENTION WOULD BE THAT THE DISTRICT PERSON WOULD STILL PICK FROM, THEY WOULD HAVE THE FINAL SAY WHETHER THEY WANT TO ONLY SELECT FROM THEIR DISTRICT OR IF THEY WANT TO MOVE ON AND SELECT FROM OTHER DISTRICTS TO MAKE SURE THERE'S A QUORUM. BUT ALWAYS THE DUTY STILL LIES WITH THE DECISION BEING MADE BY THE DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE, THE DISTRICT COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE.

Okay, so just question, is that very clear in this amendment? I'm asking the question. I want it to be said because I think it's important.

Okay, thank you for reading that in. All right, Vice Mayor Matulak.

Yes, and I think this is a similar conversation that Council Member Matias and I have had of other commissions and boards that fall under the same thing where they specifically can only pick for that. And I think we need to look at that similar language for those other commissions and board that fall under that same type of restriction.

And we reviewed this earlier and the MPOC requires a voter, would require a referendum vote because it was approved by vote and the other two, POAC was already like this, we just adopted SAB. So this will take, I think this will take care of the ones we have control over. So we've already read the motion. Can we restart the vote, please, if everybody's all right?

Motion carries unanimously with Council Member Paul Mayer's absence. All right. Thank you. We're going to go back to consent. The first item that was pulled was item 8S, which is now item 8.1, Adopt a Resolution Approving the HUD-Required Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, CAPER, for FY2526, Addressing Affordable Housing and Community Development Needs in the City of Vallejo. I'll turn it over to Council Member Ledejew, who pulled the item.

Thank you. So first of all, I'm going to quickly talk about what the purpose of the CAPER is. And it's a report really to tell us whether we did what we said we would do, what we told HUD we would do, and we're reporting out on those different measures. And it is a required report, and we do need to submit it. But I will say that compliance is not the same as performance. AND THE REPORT DOES ACKNOWLEDGE ITSELF THAT THERE'S STAFFING SHORTAGES, THAT THEY'RE SIGNIFICANT AND LIMITED OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER PLAN PROGRAMS AND RESULTED IN ACTIVITIES BEING DELAYED OR DEFERRED. that doesn't preclude the

So can I ask a question? Yes. First of all, I'd like to know how we can have reporting on that plan. And additionally, I'd like to understand what is precluding the city from bringing in a contractor to help get things caught up. We're not even doing basic things. We're not answering the telephone. I know for a fact, I know what I'm talking about. We're not answering the phones timely. We're not answering emails timely. That's very problematic when we are serving the most vulnerable population in our communities, our community, and we are serving the most under-income individuals in our commun

OKAY. SO LET ME ASK ONE OTHER QUESTION BEFORE SHE RESPONDS. IN ADDITION TO, YOU MAY NOT LIKE THIS QUESTION, Do we have staff, all staff, on board five days a week at this point? We are not performing, so where are we each and every day, eight hours a day? Are all of our staff back in that department every day?

So is there anything precluding that the doors open five days a week? Even with half strength, there are bodies that command the door.

Okay. So I'll turn to the assistant city manager and to the director to fill in.

First of all, they're really interrelated. to all the work that you do because they serve a particular community, the very community I'm speaking to. So we can talk about HCV and we can talk about that report as well and they're intertwined. And so what I'm most interested in is how are we going to move the agency rather than saying I don't have enough staff, that's not good enough for the public. How often are our doors open? How are we managing our emails? What are we going to do in the next 90, 60, 30 days to close some of these gaps that we're having?

So can I ask you a question? While you might say you have help answering, looking at emails, phone calls, scanning, scanning is one thing, but emails and phone calls, Are we just taking messages and then forwarding them on? Are we answering them? And what's the SLA, the service level for making sure in 24 hours? I'm just giving an example. In 24 hours, you're going to get a return call with someone who's knowledgeable to give you an answer. The same thing with an email. What is that time frame?

Okay. And how are we logging those? How do we know every email that comes in and every phone call that comes in?

Okay. And so when you say you don't have a backlog of calls, they're getting, you're assuming that they're being returned because you don't, I don't know what system do you use. Do you use Guardi or do you use?

Okay. Go ahead. I just want to, I'm tracking the conversation.

I'M GOING TO STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. I WANT EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM TO HEAR WHAT WAS JUST SAID AND TELL ME HOW THAT SOUNDS TO OUR PUBLIC. I AM SERVING THE MOST VULNERABLE POPULATION And yet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get to come and see you potentially, and I get to scan a barcode or whatever the case may be. How does that sound to all of us? I just, I wanna, I am making this really real because as a council member, who, we all know what I do, who serves the most vulnerable population in any city I serve, to say that I don't have open doors, I can't come to a government building that provides m

OKAY. BECAUSE I DO THIS EVERY DAY, AS YOU KNOW. I KNOW THAT A CONSULTANT, AS IT RELATES TO THE FRONT DESK, ISN'T GOING TO RESOLVE THAT. BUT I'M GOING TO SAY THIS TO ALL OF US, INCLUDING YOU. THERE'S NO REASON WHY OUR DOORS SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE CLOSED. THEY HAVE BEEN CLOSED FOR QUITE SOME TIME. YOU, I'M GOING TO SAY THIS TO THE CITY MANAGER, BECAUSE I CANNOT SAY THAT TO YOU. The housing authority staff need to be directed to open the doors and be at Everyone everyone on staff from the top to the bottom. We need to open our doors and we need to start servicing our staff our Constituents no diff

So director, I'm gonna say this to you. I only have two and a half bodies to do the work. Okay, director, I'm gonna say this, but I'm gonna say it to the city manager. We can't keep saying we don't have enough staff. It's not acceptable. It's been too long. What are we going to do different on Monday morning, city manager? We're going to do something different on Monday morning to serve our clients.

Because it's been two years. I've been talking about this. And I know you're new.

SO I'M CURIOUS AND MAYBE OUR ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER KNOWS THIS FOR A FACT. WE BROUGHT IN A CONTRACTOR TO GET US THROUGH LEASING UP BROADWAY. IS THAT CONTRACT STILL ACTIVE? or if it's expended, can we add additional dollars? We need to do something now.

I'm asking because I don't know what's precluding us from using it.

OKAY. STOP RIGHT THERE. SO CITY MANAGER, WE HAVE AN ACTIVE CONTRACT THAT I GUESS NEEDS SOME ADDITIONAL DOLLARS TO IT. WHAT CAN WE DO TO ADD DOLLARS TO THAT CONTRACT TO BRING IN A NEEDED SERVICES WHERE IT'S BANDIT SUPPORT, WHATEVER THAT SUPPORT NEEDS TO BE TO START MOVING THIS AGENCY FORWARD. FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 90 DAYS WHILE YOU'RE PUTTING TOGETHER A PLAN.

So I don't know that they have to propose when we already have an active contract with them.

So they've, I just want to say this, they've done other work, other typical housing authority operational work prior to working on leasing up the Broadway. So they have helped them, the housing authority, do day-to-day operational work where they have been short-staffed, so forth and on. So it should not be... What is your spend authority? What is your spend authority?

So what I want to say to my colleagues is I don't know if we can, rather than us waiting for another meeting for this to come back and on and on and on, is there a way that we can consider saying, okay, giving a potential up-to amount for the city manager to negotiate for a scope of work so this can keep moving on.

I mean, it makes, so from my perspective, it makes, from what I know about the work and understanding the industry, it makes, did you want to say something? I was going to let you finish your sentence and then I have a thought. Sure. It makes sense to me, the dollar amount that you are projecting, BECAUSE FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, FROM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN ADDRESSING THIS FOR TWO YEARS, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING IMMEDIATELY. IT'S BEEN TOO LONG.

YEAH, I'M GOING TO JUMP IN, BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DO STILL HAVE FOUR ITEMS, AND WE'RE GOING FAR OFF OF THE CAPER REPORT, SO I THINK WE MIGHT HAVE AN IDEA FOR SOMETHING TO COME AT A FUTURE MEETING. BECAUSE I LIKE THE IDEA OF PREAUTHORIZING, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S FEASIBLE UNDER THIS ITEM. I DON'T THINK WE CAN GIVE THAT DIRECTION RIGHT NOW.

SO WHILE WE'RE BEING VERY LEGALISTIC, I'M FINE WITH THAT, BUT WHAT I WANT TO SAY FROM A RESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE, THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS. And so where is it going to come back? This is serious. Where is it going to come back? Because this is important. We're talking about people's housing. I see the emails. And I'm pinging the city manager. And there are things that are seriously not getting done and they are, it's not healthy and helpful. Right. I just want to, I need to say that because I want to put this on the record. Go ahead.

Yeah, Council Member Matias, go ahead. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Yeah, no, thanks. So I'll be quick because we got to go, but I also put a call in to the city manager. I don't remember if it was today or yesterday. I've lost track of time, but, you know, I don't really talk about my – personal life or any of that but I was sharing with him just on a very personal level that there was a moment in time where I received that benefit and you know for you to get notices that you're gonna lose that benefit and you're gonna lose housing when you're just getting by, $5 gas, rising groceries, job loss at a scale we haven't seen because of disruptive technology is ve

I'll pay for it. So really seriously, I want to, I want us to be mindful of something that this body may not really understand about HUD. The condition of our housing authority, places us in a position of potential receivership. I want to put it on record because I've been talking about it. And it's very important. This is serious. And we don't want that to happen. It's very important. So that's my last statement about this whole issue.

All right, we do have to get this CAPER report in. So we need to take a vote on that, and it sounds like we have a go-forward plan. We had already took public comment on this item, but just checking to see if there's anybody that has their hand raised online or wishes to comment in-house that hasn't already commented on the item. SPEAKER 1, SPEAKER 2, SPEAKER 3, SPEAKER 4, SPEAKER 5, SPEAKER 6, SPEAKER 7, SPEAKER 8, SPEAKER 9, SPEAKER 10, SPEAKER 11, SPEAKER 12, SPEAKER 13, SPEAKER 13, SPEAKER 14, SPEAKER 14, SPEAKER 15, SPEAKER 16, SPEAKER 17, SPEAKER 18, SPEAKER 19, SPEAKER 21, SPEAKER 22, S

Sorry, through the Mayor, before the motion, I just want to make sure, because I agree with Council Member Matias, I think this needs to come on every agenda, so if that can be part of the motion, that we have this as a topic of discussion until this is substantially resolved, I would support that, so I wanted that to be part of the motion.

Yeah, okay. I don't know, I'm going to ask. You can come up if you want. because it was a pulled consent item. Yeah, I'd like to speak.

Thank you. Is there anyone online? All right, I think we have clear direction on our next step. Let's go ahead and get our motion for this acceptance of this report.

Yes, Mayor. I move that we adopt a resolution approving the HUD required consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, CAPER, for fiscal year 2526, addressing affordable housing and community development needs in the city of Vallejo, with the understanding that we will have a standing agenda item of addressing our housing shortcoming.

That's not the rest of it. What's the other part in terms of working on the contract? Add it all in.

But I don't know that we can have that. I don't know that we can put that into the motion on this item.

I think if we leave it generally as a...

Okay, so with the housing shortcomings, what's the verbiage you would like to...

So our addition to your amendment would be that the city manager will begin to work on the contract within his current authority and then bring back the next phase as it relates to the additional dollars needed. And all of this would be scheduled in succession. So we would be working on this for September. So by the time we hit October, he has a complete process.

All right, we're moving on to item 8J, formally 8.2. This is adopter resolution approving and authorizing the response to the 2526 grand jury report regarding Vallejo 911, faster responses, uncertain future. I believe it was Council Member Letergy that pulled this item. Who pulled this item? Ah, Council Member Matias. I'll turn it over to you.

SO I TALKED ABOUT THIS EARLIER WHEN WE WERE GETTING THE PUBLIC SAFETY UPDATE, COUNCIL. I DON'T THERE'S A LINE IN THIS REPORT THAT SPEAKS TO THE ELIMINATION OF POSITIONS THAT I JUST DISAGREE WITH. IT'S NOT ACCURATE. WE CLEARLY GOT A RESPONSE FROM CITY STAFF TODAY. AND SO I WOULD JUST WANT US TO MOVE TO APPROVE THAT REPORT STRIKING OUT THAT SENTENCE THAT SPEAKS TO THE ELIMINATION OF POSITIONS.

That sounds good to me. Can I make one other suggestion, which is that there's a line at the bottom of... I don't even know what page. There's a section on flock safety automatic license plate readers, and there is a line that says to prevent any operational disruptions, the department is prioritizing efforts to stabilize and solidify our long-term vendor contract and funding for flock safety. I'd like to strike that because we have that as a pending item before a couple of our commissions coming back to council. So I'd like to strike that from the report as well. and it sounds like we're gett

YES, I MOVE THE ADOPTER RESOLUTION APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE RESPONSE TO THE 2025-2026 GRAND JURY REPORT REGARDING VALLEJO 911, FASTER RESPONSES, UNCERTAIN FUTURE, WITH THE ADDITION OF ELIMINATING THE LINE STRIKING OF ELIMINATING POSITIONS, AND I'LL GO AHEAD AND HAVE YOU READ

Yeah, so we're striking. This is really hard because the pages aren't numbered.

So under, on the second page in response to recommendation one, about, it looks like three-fourths of the way down, Council Member Matias, you can correct me if I'm wrong, there is a line that says, the little paragraph that says the city already has a budgetary shortfall of $31 million resulting in significant budgetary challenges with any further contracting. with any further contracting and resulting in 30 unfilled sworn positions eliminated. Is that the one you want? Let's just strike that whole paragraph. That doesn't even make sense. And then striking at the bottom of page four, striking

Thank you very much. All right, we have one more that we absolutely have to get through tonight, which is number 8.3. Previously, item 8T, adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the city's response to the 2526 Marin County Grand Jury Report entitled NCE Marin Cleared Energy, a series of missteps highlight need for governance changes and authorizing city clerk to forward the response to the presiding officer. presiding judge of Marin County Superior Court and to the foreperson of the Marin County Civil Grand Jury. Council Member Matias, this was yours as well, so I'll turn it over to you.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you guys read that, but that was a pretty damning report, and we didn't even get to talk about it as a council. So right away I thought about, are we making a contribution to this board or this entity? Where's the report out from our appointed member? who isn't here and what responses are we making as a city because it called out all the jurisdictions and said we're all sort of culpable in whatever dysfunction is happening on that board and that affects rate payers it's also tied to service delivery so I don't think we should approve that unless the city attorney

Yeah, I can say I was the one who I think I received this initially and forwarded it over. That's usually what happens. And the grand jury report. And if I recall, there is a deadline that we have to approve it now to get the response in. But I don't believe responding was mandatory for the city of Vallejo. But for the reasons you just described would be what I would imagine why the city manager felt it important to issue a response. And I do believe... One of the responses, because I skimmed it when I got it, and it was damning. I mean, it was rough. There are a couple of pieces here where th

yeah it's this tight tight time frame um uh what's what are the questions what are the concerns i'm sorry i was out in the lobby i mean there's a lot in there my friend uh they're talking about folks not showing up um folks uh people not having the expertise necessary uh you know there's stuff about finances. We also make a financial contribution, I'm assuming as a city to that board. So like, that's a lot to unpack. And we didn't as a board get to talk about what that means. And I do feel like we need to have a conversation because I don't want to be contributing to that problem. It seems lik

It was within 90 days for the required responders. And it was received on June 16th.

Clarifying question to Council Member Martinez, because I think I'm aligned with you on concerns in general, but is your concern with the response itself or just with the issues more broadly? Because we could do where we send the response and then agendize, you know, MC later.

I think for me it's more about the specific responses without hearing from our appointee, without hearing from, like, How do we contribute? What do we expect to get out of it? What service are folks getting out of it? Like, there's also a lot of high insensitivity right now around, like, PG&E and generally, and this is not PG&E, but I think they have a structure by which they purchase electricity off the grid. So, like, again, going back to the housing, this is very timely, and we don't want to be just like, yeah, sure, send in the report and not really talk about what does that really mean fo

I MEAN, I COULD JUST E-MAIL THEM AND ASK. BECAUSE I WENT BACK TO THE E-MAIL CHAIN WHEN I GOT THE REPORT AND I CONFIRMED RECEIPT, ASKED THEM IF THERE WAS ANYTHING MANDATORY, NEVER GOT A RESPONSE, FORWARDED TO YOU. AND THAT WAS THE EXTENT OF IT. I MEAN, I COULD REPLY TO THE E-MAIL AND SAY, WOULD YOU ACCEPT A LATE RESPONSE? WE'D LIKE TO DISCUSS FURTHER. AND WE'VE BEEN ON RECESS. AND WE COULD JUST DECIDE NOT TO SUBMIT A RESPONSE AT THIS TIME.

Yeah, so we could do that. I see some lights. I see the vice mayor. I know the vice mayor is the alternate on MC, so why don't we get him in?

And so as one of the more active participants two years ago when we were on the board and Council Member Palmares and I were tag teaming that one, So the background to this right now is there's been significant upheaval with MCE. So the CEO has left. And there's been some infighting with the entire, since it's Marin County, Solano County, and even Contra Costa County. AND SO THIS IS WHERE I CAUTION OF WHO WE'RE RESPONDING TO, WE MAY BE GETTING ONE MESSAGE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE ACTUAL TRUTH OR HALF TRUTH MAY BE. SO THIS IS WHERE I WOULD CAUTION US OF CHECKING WITH COUNCILMEMBER PALMERIS WHO H

ALL RIGHT. I SEE COUNCILMEMBERS LETTERGUE AND GORDON. REAL QUICK, COUNCILMEMBER LETTERGUE.

THIS IS JUST A PROCESS QUESTION. AND I KNOW WE WERE QUOTE, UNQUOTE, ON BREAK IN AUGUST, BUT WHEN WE receive a civil grand jury report And yes, they are a volunteer body, but their body is taken very serious. So what is our process to ensure that there's timely response, whether we are being invited or we need to, and we're having an opportunity when it has to come to us to review? And maybe we don't have an answer right now, but I think it's important. we wouldn't be having this discussion if we have a process or at least define the process so going forward we're not caught in this bind. Becau

Thank you so much. I do appreciate my colleague pulling this. I also have kind of a question that I need to ask. We are having so much problems, like was stated about the infighting, and I did hear about the CEO. My frustration is for the rate payer complaints. When they saw this, I think they had a misunderstanding when they emailed me. and they gave me an example such as my very own. I only had $15 worth of energy, but PG&E charged me $25 delivery cost. When we first agreed to this type of service, THE MCE PICKED UP THAT DELIVERY CHARGE, BUT NOW THEY'RE PUSHING IT ON TO THE CUSTOMERS. AND I

I would suggest that's part of the conversation that we need to have a better understanding of because we can't be giving, I wouldn't want to be giving false information out to our constituents to where, since MC, because this is a rate issue that we don't have control over, that it's a bigger issue. IT'S A BIGGER GOVERNING BODY THAT DETERMINES THAT BEYOND US, AND WE'RE JUST PART OF THAT CONVERSATION. SO THIS IS WHERE, AND I'LL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY WITH THIS WITH COUNCILMEMBER PALMERIS, AND THIS IS WHERE SOME OF OUR CONSTITUENTS MESHED THAT THE LIAISONS TO A LOT OF THE COMMISSIONS AND BOARDS SH

And just quickly, I agree with comes more letters you I think that we need to have a process in place, maybe all grand jury reports come once they get to you, they go to the city manager, and then they get forwarded to the council immediately. So we have time to read it, ask questions, not be waiting until it's the due date and have it be on a consent item. So I think that would be the prudent course for all grand jury reports.

Yeah, I agree. I think we have a plan. So sorry, I just took a bite of something. I'm going to move that we hold off and continue this item for further discussion so we can hear from our rep and hold off on sending a response at this time. We'll try to put it on the 22nd, but we should confer because we've got, it's rough. We'll try for the 22nd, but we'll see what we can do.

So I'm going to say... I would suggest if we're not going to give a response, a timely response, that there is a call made to the civil grand jury confirming if they're able to accept a late response. And while we're invited, we're a part of this body and we do need to have a recorded response. I would strongly encourage us as a council to understand also the importance of responding.

Yeah, I can, as I mentioned before, I can easily send them a message and say we're having more in-depth, you know, we discussed a response. We just came back from recess and we want to have a more substantive discussion and then see what they say. Did you have something to add, Vice Mayor? No, no. So that's my motion, that we continue this to, as soon as possible, we'll look at the separate time or 20-second agenda and see if it makes sense. And if not, we'll go to that next meeting. All right. Do we need to vote on it or are we okay just continuing it? All right, let's vote on the continuance

All right, let's go ahead and vote on continuing that. All right. Motion carries unanimously. We had two more items pulled. 8.4, which was previously 8F. 8.5, which was previously 8K. 8F. Both were stated that they could be continued. I do kind of want to take the one that has the fire department because they've been waiting this whole time. You want to just take both of them? All right, let's go ahead and call then item 8.4, formally 8F, adopt a resolution approving a First Amendment to the Consultant and Professional Services Agreement with Aiken Gump, et cetera, to provide continued federal

Yes, thank you so much. I thank you for staying as long as you did. I wouldn't have normally asked you to do this, but I did get multiple constituents concerns about this. Can you just clarify? That's all.

And, and the next part to that would be, um, as stated in a lot of issues, have they been able to give reports constantly of what they are lobbying for? If this is not the appropriate place to ask that question, but it is, if we're paying someone to do some work for us, we just haven't seen a lot of it, if that makes sense.

And is there a place on the Our City website where one can click on lobbyists and what they're advocating, what they're doing for us?

So, oh, he's gone. So maybe we can ask if we can create something like that so that way they can see where their dollar is going. So that's it for that. Thank you for your help with that.

Just as a follow-up question, who sets the priorities for the lobbyists? Because I don't remember us discussing as what we want them to be lobbying for. Is that something that's set by the city or who sets those priorities? I mean, it's been a long time.

It probably carried over from like three councils ago. It would be worth updating.

With the current administration and all the concerns we have, we should be having that discussion to give priorities of what we want them lobbying for. Go ahead, City Mayor Scherlock.

Would you have access, would you be able to pull our current legislative priorities and send it to council, and then we can add to the hopper? Presumably, we have them. Yeah, we definitely have them. Yeah, like let's let's get the most recent version and then let's put in the hopper to find some time for us to review and update them Generally a study session of some sort Council member letters you So the last time they came to this council I requested them to come because I had been asking and

The other part of when we talk about our federal lobbyists and we're talking about our goals, part of that lobbying work when you talk about setting those goals is what are the state goals, what are the county goals, and how do we look at those goals that are at the state and federal so that we then, those are the things that are gonna be moving, especially at the state, what they're lobbying for and at the county. And how do we look at those things and say, yes, these things are important to our city, to our constituents, and we want to ensure that we are also lobbying because that's generall

Yes, and I think if my recollection of these topics and discussions we've had, it's been our lobbyists that have been driving us as opposed to us driving them. And this is where, and I think, not that they're doing anything wrong, but they're chasing the monies also to try to identify with us of what it is. But to Council Member Lettajew's point is that we should be driving that bus of where we should be directing them and they're supposed to be finding that money from that federal and from that state level, because we've had both of our lobbyists from the state and federal level come to us, b

And are they prioritizing the right things given the new administration, which we haven't updated for? And we also have the League of Cities and Conference of Mayors and other professional organizations that lobby on behalf of cities collectively. Is what they're doing unique enough and valuable enough for Vallejo that it's worth spending... you know 300 whatever it was thousand dollars a year it sounds like it is but we need to make sure we need to verify that before we just rubber stamp them to get more money and it's what you want so all right it sounds like we have a plan for this as well

I APOLOGIZE. SO I BELIEVE WE'RE GOING TO BE, ARE WE HAVING, I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY, I'M NOT CAUGHT UP ON MY EMAILS, BUT I THINK WE'RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A STUDY SESSION JUST AROUND FINISHING OUR GOAL SETTING.

Okay, that's fine. But that would be the appropriate place for it. That's what I was going to suggest. Yes, absolutely. That's why I wanted to tell them.

All right. Go ahead, Council Member Ortiz.

I asked them when they presented a few months ago to attend goal setting, but they didn't show up.

ALL RIGHT. IT SOUNDS LIKE WE HAVE A PLAN. WE'RE INCLUDING IN THE GOAL SETTING WORKSHOP. AND WE'LL GO AHEAD AND GET A MOTION ON THIS ITEM FOR THE MEANTIME.

SO TO BE CLEAR, ARE WE MOVING FORWARD WITH THIS?

IT SOUNDS LIKE WE HAVE TO. AND WE HAVE THE BUDGET FOR IT. IT'S ALREADY BUDGETED?

YEAH. OKAY. SO I MOVE WE ADOPT A RESOLUTION APPROVING A FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE CONSULTANT AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH AKIN, GUMP, STRAUSS, HOWARD, AND FIELD. to provide continued federal legislative consultant services and increase compensation by 170,000 with a new not to exceed total amount of 350,000 and authorizing the city manager to execute the same.

All right, thank you. Last pulled consent item is item 8.5, formerly 8K, adopt a resolution approving the first amendment to the five-year service agreement with Target Solutions Learning LLC for additional software components for the fire department in the amount of $133,329 and authorizing the city managed to execute the same. Turn it over to Council Member Gordon who pulled the item.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STAYING. I APPRECIATE THAT. THIS IS ALSO ANOTHER QUESTION THAT WAS ASKED FOR MORE CLARITY. AND ALSO, ONE OF THE QUESTIONS, AGAIN, IF IT'S NOT APPROPRIATE, JUST LET ME KNOW. WE KNOW THAT IN THE PAST, IT WAS SHARED THAT THERE WAS SOME CONCERNS WITH THE SYSTEM COMMUNICATING WITH, YOU KNOW, RADIOS AND SO FORTH, AND MAYBE THIS IS NOT THAT QUESTION, BUT IT WAS clear that that was a part two question. If this is not the appropriate place, maybe you can help later. We can get on the agenda to ask. But we knew that in the past that had been a concern. And if that's not, please let

ALL RIGHT, CHECKING TO BE SAFE, IF WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTERS.

SO WE'RE DIVORCING ONE AND MARRYING SOMEONE ELSE?

ALL RIGHT, DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT?

Move we adopt a resolution approving the First Amendment to the Five-Year Service Agreement with Target Solutions Learning LLC DBA Vector Solutions for additional software components for the fire department in the amount of $133,329.60 and authorizing the city manager to execute the same.

All right, and we're ready to vote. We'll have Council Member Lettuce absent. We'll just go with the vote.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for staying with us. All right. That wraps up our consent items. We've already done action. Nothing on the information calendar brings us to item 11, city manager's report.

All right. That brings us to item 12, city attorney's report. All right. Item 13, our second community forum. Anyone who did not have a chance to address the council during the first community forum is welcome to speak at this time. And we will, if we have anyone in person, let's go ahead and have you wave or come up. Do you want to come up and speak? Come on up.

Thank you so much. Thanks for staying up with us. Don't believe we have anyone else for second community forum. So we'll call, we'll close that. We will get to request an actions for future agenda items or special projects. Council Member Matias, is that what you're on for?

No, I had a question for the city manager or the assistant city manager.

Let's, why don't we just do that during the report of presiding? So I'm not seeing anyone else. So why don't we go Council Member Gordon? We're going to report to the presiding officer and members of the city council. Councilman Gordon, why don't you go ahead?

I JUST WANT TO REPORT OUT FOR BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSIONER, I HAD THE HONORS WITH SECRETARY SHELLY LONGMILLER AND THE CHAIR. WE TOGETHER SWORE IN TWO NEW COMMISSIONERS. WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT OUR PLANS FOR TRYING TO CREATE SOME TYPE OF FORMAT POLICY FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING. WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT PARTNERING WITH COMMUNITY I want to say just South Vallejo community members. We are meeting September 14th, 2026. I also want, and we're getting ready also to plan for South Vallejo's beautification cleanup, October 10th and 11th. And so beautification, two of the members came and spoke. And so we're excited

Thank you, Mayor. Just quickly, the fact that we did go dark in August after we went dark. A couple of quick, and I want to acknowledge a couple of these organizations. So I want to thank VFWD for having me attend the CASA conference from the 5th to the 7th. And the great thing that I learned from that was a lot of the infrastructure funding that they were able to share and a lot of the trainings they had for that one. ON WEDNESDAY THE 12TH, AUGUST, I'M SORRY, YES, AUGUST 12TH, I WANT TO THANK PAT HUNTER AND NAACP FOR THE TOWN HALL THAT THEY CONDUCTED. AND THEN SCHOOL OFFICIALLY STARTED FOR TH

All right, with that, I will adjourn us at, oh, no? Oh, sorry, Council Member, it's 1 a.m., it's 13, which I can't even process.

Go ahead. City Manager Black, not yet off the hook, roads. What is happening this month? Just any updates you wanna give the city residents around our roads?

We do know that Tennessee Street is going to be paved starting next week.

Completely. Yeah, I was throwing that at you, Bob. That's a trick question. Yeah, I mean.

It wasn't a trick question. It was an alley-oop.

yeah so uh i blew it i'm sorry it's 1 00 a.m yeah generally there's been um a lot of ada uh curve replacements that have taken place over the past couple months i think over the next couple weeks the city should see additional deep rotary pavement along some of our corridors mainly tennessee street which sits in councilmember braganza's district which we're all very excited And in your District 2 and District 6, we have some road repavement. So this phase will be less ADA cuts and more real rehabilitation. So I hope you guys are able to experience some smoother roads in October.

All right with that. Extremely, extremely quickly.

I just want to say I did too. I didn't know who was appropriate to say that we intended I attended the conference for the floodwater and waste as well. So and then also I attended online for the NAACP meeting.

All right, with that, we'll adjourn at 103am.

Excuse me, Charles. Excuse me, Vice Mayor. Can you give that to the city manager to give to Charles?

The white one. The white one? Yeah, because I'll get that dirty. Huh? It's the same one.

No, no, no, I got the green one. The white one's mine, but I'm sorry. Oh, did you want the white one or you want the green one?

You better choose, since he's... Because look, it says something different. Oh, does it? Yeah, some smooth... Oh, I can wear it to a white party. Gotcha. Okay, there you go. And it's male.

Oh, I think that goes to Dawn then. Yeah, that's what that is.

I asked him, he says less than 50. He said it's less than 50. I didn't get that.